Cell phone Mania

Posted Saturday, July 14, 2007, at 8:24 AM

I readily admit that I love my cell phone, but I really wonder if things are getting out of hand with this dandy little gadget!

I'm watching the CBS Saturday morning news, and they just went from the death of five teenagers caused by driver text-messaging - to an infomercial about the new I-phones (eye phones??) which --- get this -- can show MOVIES!

What are we doing to ourselves??

All these marvelous inventions are great for ringing someone up to tell them you're running late or whiling away the time in the dentist's office (instead of reading old Newsweeks from 1996), but they have no place in the driver's seat of a car!

I have a friend who spends her life with the cell phone glued to her ear. She might as well have an implant!

The world is changing too fast for us old folks to keep up with it! I haven't even learned to text-message - and I don't know how to set up the voice mail on my cell phone.

By the time I learn something, it's obsolete!! The tech guy (who's probably about ten...) makes insulting remarks about my 4-year-old computer.

Hey! I can't afford to buy a new computer every year! Okay, so I have to wait two minutes for my dial-up system to log onto my email! At least I HAVE email. I know a lot of folks my age who won't touch either a computer OR a cell phone! They think they're evil agents of the Devil!!

Hey, don't make that comment about implants too loudly. Some congressman will start a bill requiring them so we can have truly handsfree calling. And while we're at it, they can implant a gps unit so they'll always be able to find us and a "black box" so they'll know what led to the accident. Good grief.

Technology is a double edged sword. It definitely cuts both ways. I'd hate to be without my cell phone but there are times when its ringing causes acute embarassment.

-- Posted by Ducky on Sat, Jul 14, 2007, at 9:22 AM

Nice to have them. But people get so engrossed in them that they have no clue what is going on around them.

-- Posted by vambfly on Sat, Jul 14, 2007, at 12:26 PM

I always have mine in my pocket when I got out in the goat pen, in case one of 'em gets me down, and I have to call for help.

My poor brother has had two phones destroyed within the last year. A friend accidently drowned his phone in a cup of Mountain Dew (It was dark & the Dew was in the cup holder of his car).

He bought another one, and just last week, he mowed over it.

He took out insurance on the third one, and nothing's happened to it so far.

-- Posted by goat lady on Sat, Jul 14, 2007, at 2:01 PM

Cellphones are amazing! How did we ever manage before this invention?! I used my cellphone as a planner, alarm clock, means of communication, txt msg'n, and on and on. I'd be lost without it. I hate to say it but I'm a rebel... I txt while driving! ahh But I make sure I can still see the road so I txt with it setting on top of my steering wheel. Surely thats safe enough!

-- Posted by classysassy on Mon, Jul 16, 2007, at 11:05 AM

How did we live without cell phones. I carry mine all the time just in case my daughter needs to get in touch with me. Now think about that... growing up I never had to worry about getting a hold of my mother. When did we get so dependent on these things?

-- Posted by dgordon on Mon, Jul 16, 2007, at 2:01 PM

I don't know, but I do know that if I go off and leave mine at home, I'll turn around and drive ten miles back to get it. I feel disconnected if I don't have it in my pocket.

Still, I don't think I want an Iphone, especially at $500 a whop!

-- Posted by goat lady on Mon, Jul 16, 2007, at 9:07 PM

classysassy---RIP I hope you don't take anyone with you

-- Posted by LUFER on Sun, Jul 22, 2007, at 1:40 AM

Right on, LUFER! Short and sweet...Of course, at 1:40 a.m., it better be...

I admit to talking on my cell phone while I drive, and I confess that THAT'S bad enough -- but texting is bound to take too much time with your eyes off the road, classysassy, don't you think??????

Madeline (Giles) DeJournett is the Advance writer for the North Stoddard Countian. A retired high school English/history teacher, she spent 32 years teaching in 5 schools in Missouri and Alaska. These days, she lives quietly with a menagerie of wild and domestic animals on 52 secluded acres in the remote Tillman hills south of Advance. She graduated from Dexter High School in 1960 and Southeast Missouri State in 1964. She can be contacted at advancensc@sbcglobal.net or by phone at 573-722-5322.